


Wings of Night 2: As Night Rises

by Phantom_Nightz



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Acapella, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Angel Family, Angel Ren, Angel Wings, Angel/Watcher Relationship, Angels, Depression, Dreams and Nightmares, Experimentation, Graphic Description, High School, Human Experimentation, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Sad Charles | Grian, Swearing, Unethical Experimentation, Watcher Charles | Grian, Winged Charles | Grian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:53:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29934381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_Nightz/pseuds/Phantom_Nightz
Summary: I was serious when I told them to kill me.They've taken everything from me.My family.My friends.My life.Now it's time I fight to save lives. The ones that I swore to create for.
Relationships: Grian/Ren
Kudos: 6





	1. Withered Heart

_I was serious when I told them to kill me._

_They've taken everything from me._

_My family._

_My friends._

_My life._

_Now it's time I fight to save lives. The ones that I swore to create for._

_**~***~** _

"It's as simple as that." Grian said, then motioned to the humans, "If you don't like me protecting them, then kill me. You have a weapon that's capable of perma-killing any Watcher right at my heart. So if you don't like me protecting them, then do it. Kill me."

He stared deep into the Watcher's eyes, coaxing them to kill him. The Watchers could see the fire deep inside Grian's soul and eyes, they hesitated.

"You're hesitating." Grian said, taking a single step backwards, "You can't do it, can you? You can't bring yourselves to kill the one kid who can destroy you all with a flick of my hand. Your move."

The Watchers continued to glare at Grian.

"That's what I thought, now I'm taking them home. And you will _not_ stop me." He turned around and started walking towards the group, "Oh, and if you have a problem with _me_ **protecting** _an_ **angel.** Then you should have killed me when you had the chance."

Suddenly a protective barrier was surrounding everyone and Grian's hands and eyes went back to their flaming state, he looked at Ren and nodded. And in a SECOND the entire roof of the building collapsed on top of everyone inside, including Grian.

When the barriers released, the humans and Ren started climbing over the rubble.

"Is everyone okay!?" Ren shouted, "I need to know.."

"We're fine Ren... And it's all thanks to Grian."

Ren paused for a moment, "GRIAN."

He began running over the rubble continuously shouting Grian's name.

"Guys, we need to find Grian. He's the only one who knows the way out of this place."

As he said that, Grian's hands and head popped out of the rubble, "I'm okay, Ren. I'm okay."

As he was pulling himself out, he immediately realized, "I just realized that the portal room is literally downstairs and I just collapsed the entire building."

"Such a smart kid." Sam remarked, "How are we getting home now?"

"One more remark out of you and I'm sentencing you to a life sentence of mute." Grian threatened as he started dusting off his vest which was now torn in three places, the same with the rest of his outfit, even his hair was full of dust and rubble, "Besides, Xisuma and I's parting mark is a set of angel wings, and that parting mark gives me his powers so I can portal us out of here."

Grian told everyone to follow him and they walked down a hill Grian and Ren hanging back just a tad.

Grian stared at the ground, feeling the semi-artificial grass hitting his ankles.

Ren heard Grian sigh, "Are you okay?"

"I just watched the Watchers kill the only family I had left, Xayther not doing anything to help, then I just killed maybe twenty Watchers." Grian said softly, "So what do you think?"

"Gri, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for. If I had just done all this in the first place then no one would have been in danger."

"Killing isn't in your blood though, you know that."

"Ren-"

"Grian, you are one of the most selfless people I have ever met."

"What? Why? I put everyone's lives at risk."

"Grian, you walked right up to a Watcher and pointed their weapon at your heart and threatened them to kill you. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of others."

"I just... I just don't know." Grian said softly as he rubbed his arm, "I just don't know what to feel."

"Gri, you're a hero, just know that when we get home, everything will be fine."

Grian sighed as he looked away.

_But it won't be._

_Nothing in my life will be 'fine' anymore._

_I saved twenty lives._

_But I couldn't save my family's._

He created the portal home at the bottom of the hill, one by one each member of the group walked through and appeared in their own world. Ren and Grian the last ones through.

As they walked through, each kid was with their parents, Ren walked over to his folks and hugged them. That left Grian alone to himself. He sighed once more and flew away.

Ren and his parents watched as Grian flew off.

"Is... Is Grian okay?" Jewel asked, "Ren, hun, what happened?"

He spoke in a soft solemn tone, "His family was killed in front of him. I.. I need to go check on him. I'll meet you guys at home for dinner. Okay?"

"Call us with how he's doing. We both know you probably won't come home for dinner. You'll probably come home late. Go find him."

"Yeah..." Ren replied then ran off as well directly after Grian.

Grian stood on a cliff with his wings laid limply on his back. He was alone, but then he wasn't.

"Gri... Are you okay?"

"No, Ren. I'm not." Grian mumbled, letting his wings set behind his back securely, "I'm smart enough to make people walk on _air with a_ _**BRACELET**_."

Grian jumped off the mountain and stood mid air in front of Ren to demonstrate his point.

"I'm smart enough to _take down_ one of the **_strongest_** Watchers alone!" Tears started forming at his eyes, "But I wasn't smart enough to save my own family. Do you know how much that **_hurts_** _ **?**_ I can do a lot, but I can only do so much. The only family I had left is DEAD. Ren, I don't know what I'm doing anymore. I don't even know who I am anymore."

"Grian, your life isn't all what you're thinking it to be."

"REN, YOU'RE AN **_ANGEL_** , I'M A **_WATCHER_**. WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO KNOW?!"

"You aren't a super soldier."

"Ren, I am. You don't know what powers I have. My life is just... It's just difficult. I don't know how to explain it."

"Grian, you need to wake up and remember that you aren't all this and a bigger thing than what you already are. You're Grian, you're the son of Orion and Lyra Void. They are your parents, not Aurora and Aerglo. You're a Void child, you are loved as a Void, not a Blaze. You're better, you're Grian. You know that."

"Ren, I don't know how you know about my biological father, but this isn't what I was wanting. I was trying to prevent my family's deaths. But I didn't- I-I-I _couldn't._ All I ever did was for them because they knew me. I was loved by them, I was cared for by them... Now... Now I just don't know who or what I'm fighting for anymore." He floated back down in front of Ren and sat down, his wings drooping limply against the ground and his back, "I don't know what to do.. Ren. My family is gone, Xayther escaped the carnage, but even he doesn't consider me family anymore... I just don't know-"

Ren hushed Grian as he knelt beside him and pulled him into a hug. Wrapping his own angel wings against Grian and himself.

"I still can't believe you sprouted wings..." Grian mumbled keeping his head down into Ren's chest, "I don't want to keep thinking about this whole Watcher thing Ren."

"Then let's go back to my place, you can relax your mind."

"I didn't want this future." Grian said as he started to fully cry, "I tried to keep them alive with me. B-But I failed."

Ren's grip tightened as he held Grian close, so they stayed there, on the ground with the sun setting slowly behind them. His wings slightly stiffened around them as Ren continued to try and calm Grian down. 

After a while, Grian and Ren sat at the edge of the cliff, staring into the sunset. Grian stared down at the running river water below them.

"My mother always said, 'Angels are closer than they appear'. It's just that I never thought that it had been you this entire time."

"Well... Even I don't know what to say about it."

"Angels are different than Watchers... But.. An angel's power is strong enough to do everything I can already do, but there's a lot more."

A longer bit of silence between the two as night completely fell upon them. Grian took a deep breath.

"When you look at the stars Ren, what do you see?"

"Twinkling lights."

Grian chuckled, "Every person sees something different, I see the stars as fallen Watchers, Angels, family members... The Orion constellation was missing until my father fell."

Grian looked up at the sky, he pointed to two new stars near the Orion constellation, "You see those two stars? They're new, Lyra and Xisuma are both looking down on us, so is Orion. They look down on us from the Heavens. Just... Watching, as Watchers' do."

"Do you reall-"

"If you ask me if I really believe that, I will leave you stranded here. You gotta remember, I grew up differently than you. I believe and see things that you don't. There are some days where I can see the lost souls of people, Watchers, Listeners, even angels."

They stayed there just for a little while longer, then started walking back to their homes. Where Ren's folks were waiting outside.

"Grian, we don't want you to be alone tonight." Jewel said, "Why don't you stay with us?"

"I-I-I would.. B-but I-"

"Grian, we insist. You just lost your entire family, you shouldn't be alone."

"I-... Okay."

That night, Grian had a restless night, when he couldn't sleep, he was reading through a book on his phone.

_A bumbling mess._

_A lost soul._

_Just another orphan._

_Just one more time._

_Just one more day, I wouldn't give to have with all of them again._

_Just one more yesterday._

Within the next few days, Grian had moved into the extra room with the Usoro's. They had a memorial for the rest of Grian's family and Grian had stayed away from the school for about a week so he could compose his feelings.

Though when he did go back, he was just completely distracted.

Grian was completely spaced out as he sat against the wall during the Acapella meeting. 

He was only jumped out of it when someone threw something at him.

"Huh, what?" He gasped, looking for the source of the attack, "Sorry, I.. I spaced out."

"I can tell." Capella said walking up to him, "Are you okay?"

"I.. Yes, but no. But I don't want to talk about it. I've just been... Distracted. It's a difficult situation."

"Yeah, I understand that. You don't look too great either. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Grian, you're paler than normal, you are not fine." She said looking more at his eyes, "Grian, go to the nurse."

"I-"

"Grian, go. Okay? Get yourself checked out."

"'Kay."

When Grian didn't come back, Ren took out his phone and texted him.

_Ren: G, are you okay?  
_ _**Sent 3:30PM** _ _  
_

_Grian: Apparently I have a fever, I'm being sent home. I'll meet you back at the house. I'm going to stop by my own place and grab my books that I left.  
 **Sent: 3:45PM**_

_Ren: That took a while... Are you walking or just ignoring texts?  
 **Sent: 3:45PM**_

_Grian: Both.  
 **Sent: 3:50PM**_

"Ren, can I talk to you?" Capella asked when she dismissed the group, "It's about Grian."

"What's going on?"

"Is he going to be okay? He hasn't been engaged in anything lately."

"Well can you blame him? He just lost his entire family, his eldest brother wants nothing to do with him and he only has me and my family as support. Plus he won't really talk to me about anything."

"Talk to him, get him talking. We need him back to his bubbly self."

"I'd love to have him back to his bubbly self too, but he won't talk to me."

"Just help him, yeah? Otherwise we'll have to appoint a new leader and I don't want to do that because you and him, your dynamic together is perfect."

"I'll talk to him."

"Thanks."

"I'll see you next week."

When Ren got home, he dropped his bag beside the door and walked up the stairs and noticed Grian's door was shut and locked.

He pulled his ear to the door and listened for him.

_"'When the stars align once a year, Angels and Watchers alike can see the souls of the one's they've lost.' I really hope I don't ever see that. That's just painful..."_

He heard him sigh and once again talk to himself.

_"I should probably help Ren with his powers. Maybe we'll talk about a soul mark or something as well... I don't know. But it's clear that the power surge I had was because of this whole.. Angel soul mate thing."_

Ren walked away from the door when he heard Grian get up from the bed.

He didn't expect Grian to speak right when he opened the door, "Ren. We need to talk."

"About?" He responded turning around, "Wha-"

"Look, Ren, I need to teach you to use your powers."

"I... Right."

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"..."

"Ren."

"Only a little."

"Not cool."

"Okay, that.. I'm sorry, but I just needed to know how you were doing. It was all in good faith."

"Whatever, Ren."

"Anyway... Are you feeling any better?"

"Eh. As better as better can be. Still not feeling great, but I'll be fine."

Ren could tell something was wrong, he knew that Grian didn't want to tell him, but he was going to push anyways.

"Grian, what's going on with you?"

"Ren, you know I don't want to talk about it."

"You won't get better unless you talk about it."

"Ren, you won't- DON'T understand."

"What wouldn't I understand?"

"Ren-"

"No, what wouldn't I understand?"

"I was serious when I told the Watchers to kill me. They took my family, they kidnapped my friends, they kidnapped you. They took everyone in my family from me."

"Grian-"

"Why wouldn't I ask them to kill me after they've taken everyone from me? At least if I'd died, they'd have let everyone go and no one would have been harmed. Even if they didn't kill me, they'd take me prisoner and force me to use my smarts to their advantage. Creating weapons for their empire as they discover new worlds to enslave."

Ren watched as Grian started closing himself off from him.

"Grian, don't shut me out. I want to help you."

"You can't fix what's been broken for years."


	2. Angels

As days passed, Grian's moods only depressed more.

While Grian was asleep one afternoon, he was having a nightmare, much like a flashback, of what happened in the Watcher realm, but it felt all too real.

Ren was downstairs helping his mum put away groceries, at least he was until someone dropped something.

"Ren, can you go check on Grian?" She asked, closing the fridge door, "I think he's still asleep upstairs. He might have knocked something over."

"Yeah, I'm on it." Ren said, "Let me know if you need my help."

He almost rushed up to Grian's room, he knocked twice before speaking behind the closed door.

"Gri? You okay?"

No worded answer, but he got a groan and what almost sounded like a whimper. He slowly opened the door and saw Grian jumping, almost thrashing, in his sleep. Ren ran up to the side of the bed and started shaking him.

"Grian. Grian, wake up!"

"GRIAN."

Grian shot up with a gasp, almost hyperventilating. He nearly bumped heads with Ren, but he saw him and rubbed his eyes and face with his hands as he caught his breath.

"Grian, are you okay?" Ren asked again, pulling Grian's hands away from his face, only to see tears coming from his eyes, "Grian..."

"PTSD..."

"Family?"

Grian rubbed his eyes once more, clearing his vision and leaning back against the headboard of his bed then focused on his breathing as Ren sat on the edge beside him on the other side. He took a shuddered breath as Ren put his arm around him, he didn't want to, but he leaned into the touch anyway, accepting the sideways hug.

"Ren..."

"Yeah, bud?"

"I.. I think I'm ready to talk about it..."

"Then go ahead."

"I don't know dude, it all just happened so fast. My mother, my brother, killed in front of me. My father was shot, I guess I never fully processed it." Grian's voice started to whisper, "I miss my family, Ren... I can't stand being alone, and I don't want to keep thinking that I'm just going to be an orphan all my life. I'm not even eighteen yet and I've lost two families."

"Well your first family wasn't really a family. The Void's were."

"REN, NOT HELPING."

"Sorry, but it's true. The Voids' were your family, not your birth family."

Grian sighed and just rubbed a scar on his chest, staying quiet as he breathed.

_I know, but what if I just can't move on?_

_What if nothing goes back to normal?_

_What if I'm just never accepted again?_

_All I'm known as is that kid who always needs someone._

**_Some form of acceptance._ **

****

_A lost soul._

_Lingering in the infinite source of space and time._

_No where to go._

_Not a lot of people to love._

_Just angels and Watchers trying to form love._

**_But what if that never happens?_ **


End file.
